Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon Developments

The Greenville plant is ramping up production, though no specifics are mentioned.

Lockheed Martin is going to be ramping production on F-16s in Greenville [South Carolina, the USA] to get to the place where we will be able to backfill pretty capably any countries that choose to do third party transfers to help with the current conflict.
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www.yahoo.com

Manufacturer is ready to supply F-16 to countries that would transfer their aircraft to Ukraine

The manufacturer of American F-16 fighters is ready to supply its aircraft to European countries, which could re-export the fighter jets to Ukraine. Source: Financial Times, Frank St. John, Chief Operating Officer of Lockheed Martin Details: Lockheed Martin is the largest US defence contractor.
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com

 
NMaude said:
Nice videos.

However the prototype should be referred to as the XF-16A NOT YF-16A as it falsely implies it's preproduction/service test aircraft.
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Tell the US Air Force, not us. This was a deliberate choice.

I'll keep calling it YF-16 as that is what it was called, and adherence to reality trumps your opinion.
 
overscan (PaulMM) said:
NMaude said:
Nice videos.

However the prototype should be referred to as the XF-16A NOT YF-16A as it falsely implies it's preproduction/service test aircraft.
Click to expand...

Tell the US Air Force, not us. This was a deliberate choice.

I'll keep calling it YF-16 as that is what it was called, and adherence to reality trumps your opinion.
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Also, the prefix Y stands for Prototype since 1962. There is no "preproduction/service test" status.
 
Here's an interesting video about the testing of a heavily modified F-16D using an AI to fly autonomously without a pilot onboard:


Over a two-week span in December, a heavily modified F-16D Fighting Falcon took to the skies no fewer than a dozen times with an empty cockpit and an artificial intelligence (AI) pilot at the stick. But while pilot-less aircraft aren’t all that uncommon in the skies over warzones today, this Fighting Falcon was packing something different in its memory banks: AI algorithms complex enough to allow it to dogfight all on its own.
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The AI fighter pilots came from two different efforts, DARPA’s Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO, program.
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Do USAF 's f16 have any missile approach warning sensors built into the airframe? If so, which models do they use?
 
Further to the above and the latest on the Ukrainian F-16 saga.

He also said that two Ukrainian pilots had undergone tests in the U.S. to assess their skills, which he said were "successful" and could lead to a "significant shortening" of the training time required for Ukrainian pilots.

He did not say how long that revised training time might be.
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www.reuters.com

Ukraine says coveted F-16s 'four or five times' better than its Soviet jets

A top Ukrainian air commander said Ukraine was in dire need of F-16 fighter jets, which he described on Thursday as "four or five times" more effective than the Soviet-era planes currently used by Ukraine.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
Flyaway said:
Further to the above and the latest on the Ukrainian F-16 saga.

He also said that two Ukrainian pilots had undergone tests in the U.S. to assess their skills, which he said were "successful" and could lead to a "significant shortening" of the training time required for Ukrainian pilots.

He did not say how long that revised training time might be.
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www.reuters.com

Ukraine says coveted F-16s 'four or five times' better than its Soviet jets

A top Ukrainian air commander said Ukraine was in dire need of F-16 fighter jets, which he described on Thursday as "four or five times" more effective than the Soviet-era planes currently used by Ukraine.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
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If they're talking about experienced Ukrainian MiG-29 pilots then it's just a matter of an operational conversion course as opposed to training new F-16 pilots from scratch (Which would take a LOT longer) which I imagine would only take a few months.

On another note it occurred to me that that new AI pilot system for flying a unmanned F-16 could be adapted for controlling the new QF-16A target-drones so as to be more realistic targets when testing AAMs and SAMs against them.

Edit: From the article:

Washington has ruled out sending F-16 jets to Ukraine for now, and U.S. officials have estimated the most expeditious time needed for training and delivery at 18 months.
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I'd like to know why the Biden DoD is being not only disingenuous but dishonest here? If you're taking Ukrainian MiG-29 pilots who're already highly experienced fast-jet pilots it's not going to take them 18 months to train them to fly F-16s it would only take a few months in an Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) to train them to fly an F-16. The 18 month figure is a red-herring as this applies only to a rookie who's never flown an aircraft before and is being trained from scratch.
 
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How many proficient pilots does Ukraine have left?

The danger is with contractors rushing to fly F-16 for them. Even if those are ex-Dan, Belgian or from the Netherland, it would still look as if the USAF is covertly engaged.

Gripen, Mirages will perfectly do. Better in that scenario. I see a great opportunity for France to trade, as did some European nations, Mirage for Lightning (call it the Zeus plan!) . There is nothing to loose. There will be dozens of pilots volunteering from every nations having flown the type.

Edit: Gripen in Ukraine will never happen until Sweden is protected among NATO. France being the farthest country from Russia should stand for its responsibility as being de-facto covered by its allies.
 
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TomcatViP said:
How many proficient pilots does Ukraine has left?
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Good question, I don't know but I won't be surprised if the Ukrainian airforce has more pilots than it does MiG-29s.

TomcatViP said:
The danger is with contractors rushing to fly F-16 for them.
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A good point however I could see a two-tier training system with one tier being converting the remaining experienced MiG-29 pilots to the F-16 and the other tier (Which would take longer but then the war in Ukraine is likely to last at least another year) being new pilots and partially trained pilots doing the longer training period taking up to 18 months.

TomcatViP said:
Gripen, Mirages will perfectly do. Better in that scenario.
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The former would be a good choice and Sweden does have a number of JAS-39A/Bs in storage which it could donate to Ukraine along spares and retraining for Ukrainian pilots and ground-crew to fly and service them.

Also don't forget that the UK has offered a number of its' Tranche 1 Typhoon T1 and F2 fighters to Ukraine.
 
First F-16 Scramble for Romania:

2-NBR5P2.jpg


ac.nato.int

Romanian F-16s launch first Alert Scramble safeguarding Baltic airspace

&nbsp ŠIAULIAI, Lithuani - On April 7, 2023, two Romanian F-16 fighter jets from NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission launched to identify and escort two Russian Suhoi Su-27 Flanker fighters The suc...
ac.nato.int ac.nato.int
 
Denmark has said that, together with its allies, it will decide “before the summer” as to whether they will provide Ukraine with the fighter jets the country has long been campaigning for. During a visit today to Ukraine, Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s acting defense minister, confirmed that the matter was under discussion but that the process was taking a long time due to the requirement for different countries to cooperate on any such transfer of aircraft.
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www.thedrive.com

Ukraine Situation Report: Denmark To Decide By Summer On F-16s For Kyiv

Denmark is the latest European NATO member to consider if it might be able to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
Talks on a potential donation of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine are progressing, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to The Hague, but no decision has been made.
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www.reuters.com

Dutch PM says talks on F-16s for Ukraine progressing

Talks on a potential donation of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine are progressing, Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to The Hague, but no decision has been made.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
Air Force Reserve stands up the 706th Aggressor Squadron based out of Nellis with Block 30s.

www.arpc.afrc.af.mil

From fighter to aggressor: 706th Fighter Squadron redesignated as the 706th Aggressor Squa

The 926th Wing’s 706th Fighter Squadron was redesignated as the 706th Aggressor Squadron during a ceremony on May 5, 2023, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The redesignation goes into effect on May
www.arpc.afrc.af.mil

www.thedrive.com

New Air Force F-16 Aggressor Squadron Stands Up

The 706th Aggressor Squadron reflects a still-growing demand for more advanced red air adversaries and greater numbers of them.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com
 
Scorpion82 said:
But not news related to the F-16V isn't it?
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Scorpion82 said:
This thread is about the F-16V, not about Ukraine getting this or that F-16! When is this finally being recognised and accepted?
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Valid point but difficult to enforce. I have adjusted the thread topic to slightly broaden it to being about "Lockheed Martin’s F-16 Fighting Falcon Developments". That said, this does not mean that it becomes open slather for all Ukraine war comments. Rather, it can be restricted to developments including single mentions of sales to new customers, upgrades and the like for the in service F-16s.

I have also deleted some of the comments complaining about the topic/thread moderation. If you have issues with things such as this use the Report function.
 
Posting this purely because of this technical variation.

After selling off most of its F-16s in favor of F-35 stealth fighters, Norway still has a dozen of the older jets in some hangar somewhere. And while the Norwegian F-16AM/BMs broadly are similar to the Danish and Dutch F-16s—built in the 1980s, deeply upgraded through the 2000s—Oslo’s jets are unique in at least one way.

They’re compatible with anti-ship missiles. If the Ukrainian air force is looking to introduce an aerial sea-denial capability, this might be its best chance.
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www.forbes.com

Those F-16s Norway Is Giving To Ukraine—They Can Carry Anti-Ship Missiles

If the Ukrainian air force is looking to introduce an aerial sea-denial capability, this might be its best chance.
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
 

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